The present invention relates generally to devices and methods of device fabrication using organic semiconductor materials, and more particularly to sensor devices having an organic semiconductor layer that performs a sensing function.
It is well known that organic polymeric materials can have compositions that produce mobile charge carriers, enabling the manufacture of organic semiconductor devices. U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,903 discloses a p-type conductivity polyacetylene film that can be doped with acceptor dopants to selectively increase its p-type electrical conductivity. A semiconductor material is known as “p-type” conductivity when its majority mobile charge carriers are positive charge carriers called “holes.” A semiconductor material is known as “n-type” conductivity when its majority mobile charge carriers are negative charge carriers or “electrons.”
Inorganic semiconductor materials, principally monolithic crystalline silicon, are readily fabricated so that both n-type and p-type regions can be formed in a silicon chip. Additionally, inorganic semiconductor materials have much higher charge carrier mobilities than organic semiconductor materials. Such characteristics enable silicon semiconductor devices to dominate high speed, high density semiconductor applications using various microscopic elements, like MOSFETs, constructed from n-type and p-type regions in a silicon chip. Yet, organic semiconductor materials have advantages over silicon in their relative simplicity of fabrication and lower finished-device cost. Organic semiconductor materials also have certain functional advantages over silicon-based devices. For example, organic semiconductor devices do not require the same rigid, hermetically sealed packages that are commonly employed with silicon semiconductor devices, since organic semiconductor devices are less susceptible to damage from exposure to various contaminants.
However, as observed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,245, only a limited number of organic semiconductor materials have been developed that are n-type. This has restricted the functionality of organic semiconductor devices and limited their practical applications. The fused-ring tetracarboxylic diimide compounds disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,245 have the potential to enable practical fabrication of both n-channel and p-channel organic thin film transistors (OTFTs), from which complementary OTFT circuits can be constructed. Devices made using such or similar organic semiconductor technologies can incorporate complex circuit functionality enabling practical applications that do not require the circuit densities and high switching speeds of present silicon-based semiconductor devices.
Additionally, certain applications of organic semiconductor technology may require only p-type material for the fabrication of practical devices. Since the decades old work done with materials like polyacetylene, described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,903, higher performance p-type materials have been disclosed in the art. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,970 discloses the use of pentacene to manufacture a p-type OTFT with a relatively high field-effect mobility.
The above-noted U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,222,903; 5,981,970; and 6,252,245 are hereby incorporated by reference. These patents are only a few representative examples of an extensive body of knowledge that has arisen in recent years in the field of organic semiconductor materials. It would be desirable to employ organic semiconductor technology in the design of sensor devices for reasons that will become apparent from the following description of the invention.